Posted by mlitney on 3/21/2021 3:55:00 PM (view original):
It will definitely be interesting to see how recruiting plays out with an influx of D1 coaches. I think there will be a lot more 3-4 team rolls on top-100 recruits. The talent on individual teams will be watered down a bit, but hopefully that should bring more parity, in which case things like game planning and roster management might become even more important than they are now. Good for the health of the game, imo.
What do you guys think about these changes:
1. Remove the cap of 20 home visits. Make them unlimited.
2. Add a cap for home visits per cycle. Maybe 5? This is so no one can drop 30 home visits.
3. Recruits with late signing preference don't start signing until 2nd day of RS2.
I always like seeing more strategy and less luck. By not having a cap on home visits, I think coaches will need to make more decisions and rely less on the cookie-cutter 1 CV, 20 HV, Promised Start/Minutes and then waiting to see if you get lucky. This will also lead to less rolls as coaches can outspend on a single recruit if they REALLY want him, while forsaking their other open scholarships.
With allowing more home visits, having a HV cap per cycle makes sense. In fact, it's probably something that we should already have. The big issue with capping HV per cycle is with schools that just lost an EE. They would have an even more difficult time signing someone in RS2, which is why...
Late recruits don't sign until 2nd day of RS2. That would give everyone a fair shot at these guys. D2 schools could still sign Early and EoP1 recruits in the first cycle so hopefully it wouldn't hurt them too much either. This is another change that probably should have been made years ago. It really helps with EE situation without having any huge negatives. What was the point of having a RS2 and Late recruits if not for creating a viable option for EEs?
Anyways, just kinda spit-balling here. Maybe I missed some glaring issue, but it makes sense to me.
1. Hard no. Probably the shortest, simplest answer is that this is a college basketball simulation, not a marketplace simulation. The simulation should be focused on recruiting players, not buying them. 20 HVs, with no diminishing returns (especially for players with negative preference matches), is already way too many.
This has come up a few times since the start of beta. There’s a serious misconception here that going to “roll” on a player is luck, and that “strategy” is about deciding how many HVs (above 20, I guess) one is willing to spend for a given player. But lots of great players go for something other than the “cookie-cutter” offer; I just signed the #9 OVR in the country in Phelan for far less (won’t get specific as recruiting is not done, but it was not the max, not by a long shot). That’s not rare for me. I go all in for guys, sure, but I sign lots of great players for something other than all-in effort, too. “Strategy” is about decisions you make all along that process, including how many guys you’re willing to roll for, and how often you line up backup options (and when).
2. Fine with it, BUT, it will make life much harder for teams with early entries, especially multiple. Currently, lining up a late signing target, ready to spring when you get the resources right away in the 2nd session, is the standard method for dealing with expected EE loss. I know the intention is to probably to mitigate that with the 3rd point, but moving those the second day gives everyone more time to react, and also probably makes it more likely those targets will be invested in by other teams *prior to* the 2nd session, reducing the chances of landing good recruits. Again, I’m alright with this, I adjust alright, I just foresee a lot of consternation given how much folks complain about how tough it is for them to replace EEs as it is.
3. Again, kind of ambivalent. I’ll adjust, but I doubt this will be very popular when actually in practice, at least at D1. One or *maybe* two no-sign cycles, sure. More than that probably compresses the 2nd signing period too much, and especially if this goes along with 2, where folks are limited in how many HVs they can send during this time as they’re trying to scramble to replace EEs and make up for lost battles, I don’t see this helping too much.
In all, again, I don’t think any structural changes to recruiting in response to higher population are necessary, in fact I think most will be a bad idea. Certainly #1 above. We adjust to higher population in a competitive multiplayer environment by adjusting our gameplay.